Timeshare Real Estate

Disney announces the timeshare expansion we predicted months ago.

In November of 2006, I wrote about Disney’s planned expansion on the western perimeter of it’s Orlando, Florida, Walt Disney World Vacation property. On March 1, 2007, the management at Walt Disney World Resort made the announcement official. Their “Western Way” development plan calls for approximately 4500 timeshare condos and hotel units, as well as a retail shopping village that will include restaurants, grocery stores, and shops.

This mixed-use tourism district will focus primarily on value-priced lodging and numerous services will be directed both at tourists and at the many Disney employees. Workers at Walt Disney World go by the title of “cast member” and currently number about 60,000 people in the Central Florida area.

Disney also announced plans for a luxury resort to be developed on the northeastern side of their sprawling property, in partnership with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The land for the expansion will include the current Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge golf courses (two-eighteen hole courses) that will be replaced with a luxury hotel, one eighteen hole championship golf course, fractional ownership vacation properties, and single and multi-family vacation homes.

Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton says, “…we are thrilled to be able to bring Four Seasons to our resort.” Kathleen Taylor, president and chief operating officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts says, “the resort will have all the ingredients needed to create memorable vacations: gracious and caring staff; beautiful surroundings that are thoughtfully designed; and services and amenities that make every experience one to cherish.”

Recently I mentioned the World Travel Trends Report 2006/07, which revealed that today’s traveler has fewer vacation days, but demands higher standards of luxury and service. When Disney adds a 5-star Four Seasons Hotel to their Orlando family vacation destination, you can assume they are also aware of this trending toward upscale accommodations.

The Middle East is one of timeshare’s fastest growing regions.

This year’s Vacation Ownership Investment Conference will be held on March 6, 2007 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The theme of the VOIC Dubai 2007 conference will be, “Timeshares, Fractionals, Condo-hotels And more…”

Over 100 senior management executives from industries in 13 countries attended the 2005 Dubai symposium, formerly known as the Timeshare & Resort Investment Conference. This year’s event is returning to Dubai because VOIC recognizes the Middle East as one of the fastest growing regions for vacation ownership, in an industry that has experienced double-digit growth for more than two decades. Many experts believe that the timeshare vacation industry in the Middle East will see growth previously unparalleled in vacation ownership. With some 6.7 million timeshare owners, and over 5500 resorts in 110 countries around the globe, the vision of even greater growth, at a faster rate, is staggering.

The conference will not only educate its attendees on the opportunities in timesharing but will discuss fractionals, private residence clubs and condo-hotels, as well. Owners and decision makers within the industry will learn ways to benefit from the multiple profit centers timesharing creates, as well as develop a better understanding of the unique synergy between the traditional real estate industry and the vacation ownership market. Orlando’s Peter C. Yesawich, the chairman and ceo of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown, & Russell, will be the conference’s keynote speaker. Mr. Yesawich is an industry expert you’ve heard me quote frequently in the Sell My Timeshare NOW, Timeshare Owners’ Blog, podcasts, and press releases. You’ll also find Yesawich’s wisdom in publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Business Week, and Newsweek. His firm is one of the travel industry’s leaders in marketing, advertising, and public relations, and includes among their clients, the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Hotels, US Airways, Marriot Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Grand Vacations, Marriott Vacation Club International, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), and Interval International, to name only a few.

The host hotel for the conference will be The Arabian Court, One & Only Royal Mirage in Dubai, a beachside resort that includes three properties: The Palace, The Residence & Spa, and The Arabian Court.

In recent months, the condotel or condo hotel ownership industry has seen a slight decline in sales. Most industry experts are not concerned and believe it is only part of a normal rise and fall in real estate trends and that the recent lag in sales parallels the overall decline in the housing market nationwide.

Yet apparently, if your name is Donald Trump and the condotels you are offering are well located and well-priced, you are bulletproofed against the effects of a sluggish real estate market.

The Trump Organization, together with Irongate, a Los Angeles investment and real estate company, have co-developed a multi-stage luxury resort project in North Baja, Mexico. Located only thirty minutes from downtown San Diego, when completed, The Trump Baja will include 525 luxury condotel suites. The three cliff side towers will overlook the Coronado Islands and the Pacific Ocean. The first 231 units are expected to be ready for occupancy by late 2008.

Interested buyers paid $5000 apiece to reserve the opportunity to select their specific unit on a first come-first serve basis. Typically, prices for Trump ownership hotel suites start around $700,000. ($799,000 USD for Trump International, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and $815,000 USD for a suite at Trump Chicago). When The Trump Baja began their presales with fully furnished suites priced from the mid $200,000’s to a little over one million dollars, it was not surprising they were gobbled up quickly. One hundred and eighty-eight of the first tower’s units were sold by noon on the first day of presales, accounting for over $46 million. According to an AP report, presales hit $122 million within the first week.

Owners of the condotel units can hold their suite solely for their own use or participate in a rental program, with a management company handling all the details of guest services.

In November 2006, the Bluegreen Corporation announced the purchase of seven acres of land that adjoins the Treasure Island Water and Theme Park in the resort and entertainment community of Wisconsin Dells. Additionally, Bluegreen purchased 24 unsold existing timeshare units at the Treasure Island Park.

Representatives of the Bluegreen timeshare company say their development plans include approximately 75 two and three-bedroom interval timeshare units, which they estimate will be available starting in 2008, with some units not completed until 2009. Additionally, the Bluegreen timeshare company plans to reconfigure and update the existing 24 units at the location, with a target occupancy date of the third quarter 2007.

The Bluegreen Corporation also bought the property management rights for the original 24 units and established a marketing partnership with the resort’s owner and operator, Treasure Island, LLC.

Wisconsin Dells is a unique community located along the Wisconsin River in the central portion of the state. The area bills itself as “The Water Park Capital of the World” and attracts millions of tourists each year for both the indoor and outdoor recreation and entertainment.